asbestos
noun /æsˈbestɒs/
/æzˈbestəs/
[uncountable]- a soft grey mineral that does not burn and can be woven into material, used especially in the past in building as a protection against fire or to prevent heat loss. Asbestos is dangerous if you breathe it in.
Topics The environmentc2, Buildingsc2石棉 Collocations DictionaryAsbestos is used before these nouns:- exposure
- fibre
词源early 17th cent., via Latin from Greek asbestos ‘unquenchable’ (applied by Dioscurides to quicklime), from a- ‘not’ + sbestos (from sbennumi ‘quench’).